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Archive of posts about Peru


19
May
0

Party Poopers

by Gem | PeruPeru | Máncora

We arrived in Máncora having had the best night’s sleep on a bus ever. Good old Cruz del Sur! It felt a little bit like we’d ended up back in a South-East Asian beach town. Lots of wooden shacks and our old friend, the trusty tuk-tuk! Plus, it was boiling. Even at 9 in the morning! I was pleased!

We were staying at Loki, a hostel with a pool and a reputation for partying. There are a few Loki’s dotted around South America, mostly in Peru and Bolivia and all of them have the party reputation – which is why we’d avoided them previously. But we thought we should probably try one out and what better place than by the sea in a sleepy beach town?! We got a tuk tuk to the hostel and checked in. Our room wasn’t available until 1 so we spent the morning dipping in and out of the pool and snoozing on sun loungers. The Loki complex looked to have been a hotel in another life so there was a really good pool area, a restaurant/bar zone and a few hammocks dotted about for afternoon naps. Click here to read more…

18
May
1

Lightning Lima

by Dan | PeruPeru | Lima

After a couple of days relaxing amid the dunes, it was on to the Peruvian capital, Lima. We’d been warned it wasn’t particularly safe by several people we’d met along the way, as well as our guide book, so we decided to make our visit a short one! A poor populace and high unemployment make tourist muggings commonplace.

We decided to stay in the upmarket Miraflores district, a seafront area which was described by a woman we met in La Paz as Lima’s Beverly Hills! It’s also supposed to be the least dangerous area of the city, so it seemed like a good bet! Arriving mid-afternoon we spent the remaining daylight hours wandering the well-kept parks above the cliffs, eating ice cream and watching the energetic roller-bladers and paragliders. It all seemed quite American – I’ve never been to California, but Miraflores pretty well matches how i imagine it to be! Click here to read more…

17
May
1

Lazing by the Lagoon

by Gem | PeruPeru | Huacachina

Our overnight bus ride to Ica was very pleasant. We had our first cama-seat (literally ‘bed seat’) experience and even Dan managed to get some shut-eye! We arrived at Ica at 9 in the morning and got a taxi straight to Huacachina, which had been described to us as a desert oasis. And that’s more or less what it is. The whole town is set around a lagoon that’s in the middle of miles upon miles of towering sand dunes. Quite a spectacular sight! We found a nice hotel with a swimming pool and views of the dunes and promptly collapsed into sun loungers for the rest of the day, only surfacing to eat.  I tried the local speciality, ceviche, which is basically raw seafood marinated in lime and chilli.  It was very tasty but the marinade is a bit overpowering! Click here to read more…

14
May
1

Music, Masks and Machu Picchu

by Dan | PeruPeru | Cusco & Machu Picchu

From Copacabana we followed the shores of Lake Titicaca north, and were soon at the border with Peru. Another stamp in the passport and we were into the 16th country of our now 7 month long trip. Our first destination was Cusco, the capital of the ancient Inca empire, and one of the oldest cities on the continent.

We spent our first couple of days exploring the narrow, twisting cobbled streets and alleyways of the old city, all built on top of the Inca buildings they replaced. In some places you could still see the solid stone foundations that were left behind. We were staying in Barrio de San Blas, up the hill from the centre so we got plenty of exercise wandering around! During our wanderings we encountered three women with baby Llamas, purely for tourists benefit obviously, but Gem couldn’t resist having her photo taken with them, as you can see above! It was a beautiful city to wander around, even if the altitude (3,300m) meant we were out of breath most of the time! Click here to read more…